Astronomers have discovered the first Thorne-Zytkow Object, HV 2112 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. This star was predicted in the mid 1970s by Kip Thorne and Anna Zytkow, and is actually a hybrid of two completely different kinds of stars. They look like red supergiants, but TZO's contain a neutron star in the core. It is believed this happens when a neutron star forms in a close binary orbit to a red supergiant, and the bigger star absorbs the neutron star, which ends up within the core of the supergiant.
This is a completely different type of stellar interior then we are used to, and it also is a potential means for heavy elements to form, one that does not require a supernova. The scientists responsible for the study point out that there are a few inconsistencies, but nothing major, and the original theory is fairly old. This star is probably a TZO. You would think that there are only so many kinds of stars out there, but I wonder how many other strange new kinds of stars are floating around out in the universe, just waiting to be discovered.
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